Our Voltimum Experts answer your questions on a daily basis in our Technical Expertise area. This Question of the Day, about a generator and many failures of equipment connected to it, is answered by SELECT:
In two of the containerised offices, faults were found - such as lighting PIRs being burned out, the water pump control gear also being burned out, fluorescent lights no longer in working order, and more besides.
I replaced these items, which all worked fine on the new generator. When asked what had caused the faults, I referred the customer back to the suppliers of the generator, but the customer denied any fault caused by their generator.
The last time I came across this kind of fault was when the main neutral had become disconnected. Could this happen with a three-phase generator, or is there any other another fault that could have burned out so many items?
Answer: Where the neutral of a three-phase supply becomes disconnected, potentially any single-phase circuits supplied from it may be subjected to an over-voltage (400V), which could obviously damage 230V equipment.
I cannot say that this was the cause in this instance, having not seen the configuration when the damage occurred.
To see many more Q & A in Voltimum UK's Experts Area, please click on the link:
www.voltimum.co.uk/consult.php?universe=consult.index.questions